Subscribe now

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Bangkok Tears Up Thaksin's Oil Deal

Bangkok's cabinet scrapped a 2001 maritime MoU with Cambodia, taking advantage of Article 56 in the 1969 Vienna Convention to claim the right to exit a treaty with no withdrawal clause. For nearly 25 years the document was the only framework that governed the management of the 27,000 square kilometer Overlapping Claims Area, which is estimated to hold 1.6 billion barrels of oil and 17 trillion cubic feet of gas. Phnom Penh condemned the move, said it was a breach of international law, and claims it will work to get conciliation under UNCLOS Annex V. The Thai Prime Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, and his Bhumjaithai Party, swept February's elections on a hardline nationalist platform.

Read more: The Diplomat

Phnom Penh Rolls Out a Crisis Package

On Friday, Economy and Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth introduced a $1.22 billion economic intervention program that he says will work as a cushion against the battering of both global and regional shocks. July inflation was 5.5 percent, which was the biggest cost of living squeeze seen in years. The World Bank reckons a 10 percent rise in fuel prices would push the poverty rate up 1.4 percent, forcing families that already spend most of their income on food and transport to the brink. The government did not say how the $1.22 billion will be divided between direct relief, business support, or infrastructure.

Read more: Khmer Times, Khmer Times (electricity cost)

End of COVID-era Loan Forbearance

The National Bank of Cambodia has rejected a bank and microfinance industry plea request to keep COVID-era forbearance rules through to the end of this year. The change will bring an end to a practice that currently allows lenders to classify restructured loans as “performing.” No prizes for anyone who guesses what comes next. Gross NPLs were already 9.6 percent through 1H 2026, up from 8.3 percent at the end of 2025, and the ratio is expected to keep moving higher as banks (are forced to) reclassify loans previously parked off the bad-debt books. The IMF had repeatedly pushed for the change because the forbearance has been hiding the real state of bank balance sheets. Borrowers in genuine distress will still be able to negotiate restructuring, but without the benefit of the regulatory shortcut.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

Garment Unions Reopen Wage Fight at $210

Cambodia's National Minimum Wage Council opened 2027 talks on Tuesday, and garment unions are pushing past last year's bump that brought the floor up to $210 monthly. Labor Minister Heng Sour said the first meeting is simply a data review, not a negotiation, and expects four tripartite meetings on September 14, 18, 28 and 30 to settle on a workable number. The wage has been creeping up in small steps ($200 in 2023, $204 in 2024, $206 in 2025, $210 for 2026), but unions (to say nothing of the workers themselves) say the increases haven't kept pace with the cost of living. Employers have already tried to warn unions against "excessively high" figures, and Sour says the 19% US export tariff (down from 49% earlier), is a reason to weigh competitiveness alongside inflation.

Read more: CamboJA News

Thai Helicopter Strays Into Battambang Airspace

A Royal Thai Air Force helicopter flew about 400 metres into Battambang province near the Daung International Border Checkpoint last week, in a move that resulted in a protest from Phnom Penh. Border fortifications, razor wire, shipping containers, permanent structures, and troop movements, have kept almost 20,000 Cambodian civilians in "waiting villages" instead of the homes they were told they could get back to under the December 27 truce, but eight-plus months on there’s been little progress for them.

Read more: Phnom Penh Post (grievances timeline), Phnom Penh Post (senator rebuttal), Phnom Penh Post (attaché briefing), Phnom Penh Post (UNCLOS conciliation), Khmer Times (damage assessment)

Cambodia and US Revive Angkor Sentinel Drills

Cambodia's army confirmed Friday that "Exercise Angkor Sentinel 2027" will be run again in February. It will be the first joint drill with US forces since Phnom Penh froze the program in 2017. The announcement comes after Hun Manet's August 14 meeting with Elbridge Colby, the third-ranking official at the Department of Defense, and a separate sitdown between US Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Steve Koehler and armed forces chief Gen. Vong Pisen, who floated reviving a suspended bilateral maritime exercise too. Washington's underlying worry hasn't changed - China bankrolled an upgrade to the Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of Thailand, and the US still suspects Beijing has been given secret access privileges there, but it’s a story that officials in Phnom Penh keep saying is fiction.

Read more: Ca News Yahoo

Hun Manet Tours Cleared Scam Compounds

Hun Manet strolled through an emptied Dara Sakor compound in Koh Kong, taking a look at some of the sites which are reportedly under “round-the-clock” surveillance. The visit was a feather in the cap of a 14-month campaign that resulted in the closure of 86 compounds, the freezing of more than $300 million, and the appearance of nearly 4,000 defendants from 29 countries in front of the courts. Fifteen officials are facing charges including a former Foreign Ministry director-general, a deputy prosecutor, and a deputy Phnom Penh police chief. The operators have not retired, however. Networks have moved on to Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia.

Read more: Phnom Penh Post (repatriation count), SCMP (regional loss estimates), Asian News Network (locations inspected), Khmer Times (CCOS follow-up), Asian News Network (device seizure tally)

Ex-FM Official Sold 6,000 Visas to Traffickers

A royal decree has acted as shepherd’s crook for Tho Samnang as Foreign Ministry adviser after he confessed to a visa-theft scheme that likely netted millions on the black market. The former director-general of the ministry's Legal, Consular and Border Affairs Department admitted stealing 10,000 C-class visas, which are paper stickers given to Cambodia's NGO workers, and selling 6,000 of them to human traffickers. Tho says he destroyed the other 4,000, but without any proof, authorities are still looking for them. The visas don’t have any digital record and will pass through Immigration with no vetting, gaps the ministry now says it will close.

Read more: Khmer Times ($3M estimate), UCA News (growth forecast cut)

Logging Roads Breach Dam Zone in the Cardamoms

Satellite images show logging roads as far as 3 kilometers past the authorized 2,898-hectare reservoir zone at the Stung Russei Chrum Kandal dam, which is inside Phnom Kravanh National Park. That’s one of the largest protected rainforests and is home to Asian elephants in addition to the critically endangered Sunda pangolin. A sawmill is outside the permitted boundary, and it is apparently fed by a network of small roads that match no publicly available construction plans. Residents of the O'Soam commune say checkpoints staffed by men in RCAF uniforms (the developer says they’re for “forest protection”), now also block waterways that they used to use for fishing.

Read more: Mongabay

Jakarta's Scam-Victim Fund Runs Dry in Phnom Penh

At least 475 Indonesian nationals are sleeping rough in a warehouse at the old Pochentong Airport, as they wait for passports, or plane tickets (or both), after getting out of scam compounds during the crackdown. Many entered Cambodia illegally to work in the centers, overstayed their visas once they expired, and now have no money or documents that would allow them leave. The Indonesian embassy had been covering food and emergency travel papers, but stopped all that on August 30, saying it had run out of money.

Read more: Phnom Penh Post

Seven Years for a CLV-DTA Protest

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has sentenced Thy Thorn, Mean Chanthon and Soueng Kunthea to seven years each. the decision closes out nearly all convictions from the 100-plus arrests that came along with the 2024 protests against the CLV-DTA pact, a deal that the government has since withdrawn from. All three of the recently sentenced had already spent more than two years in pretrial detention; Chanthon and Kunthea were deported from Thailand in November 2024 before being charged. Defense lawyer Son Chum Choun said that the social media posts were "constructive criticism," not treason, and plans to appeal.

Read more: CamboJA News

LOLC Prices KH’s First CGCC-Guaranteed Bond

LOLC (Cambodia) closed a KHR 80 billion ($20 million) bond on September 6. It’s notable because it is the first Cambodian corporate issue that comes with a guarantee from the Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia. The offering was oversubscribed, major local financial institutions wanted to get in on the strength of CGCC's khAAA rating instead of LOLC's. Yuanta Securities (Cambodia) was lead manager in running the deal, the bond will list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange. CGCC was accredited as the market's bond guarantor in January 2024, but this is the first issue priced under that agreement. It will be lost on few readers that it took more than two and a half years.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

CSX Rallies 18% Through August

The CSX Index was up 18% in August to close at 541.02, tipping 560.09 on August 26, its highest reading since March 2022. The lift brought year-to-date gains to nearly 28%. Average daily trading value roughly quadrupled to about $800,000, compared to July’s $230,000 turnover. New account openings numbered 2,006, more than double January's 949, and active traders were reported 7,901, up 28% from July. The exchange is crediting institutional buyers for the liquidity boost.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

Subscribe now

Share The Mekong Memo

If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.

Subscribe now

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Gov’t Protests Thai Trench-Digging at Border

The Foreign Ministry filed a protest after Thai heavy machinery was sent to dig trenches in the Chouk Krous area. The work is part of what Phnom Penh says is a series of border violations. The complaint comes after Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul visited the Chong An Ma area (Cambodians call it An Seh), in Preah Vihear province, territory Phnom Penh says Thai troops have occupied since 2025. Hun Manet said the situation remains "fragile," as Joint Boundary Commission survey work promised under December's ceasefire remains stalled while barbed wire, shipping containers and Thai land allocations for civilians are still in the disputed territory.

Read more: Cambodianess (boundary maps), Khmer Times (machinery protest), Cambodianess (Anutin visit), CamboJA News (Hun Sen)

Gov’t: Scam Compounds Shut, Trackers: No

Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith told nearly 50 foreign diplomats that Cambodia's 13-month enforcement campaign had cleared every large-scale scam compound in the country. The government says it has raided 624 of 793 identified sites, detained nearly 30,000 suspects (including 15 senior government and law-enforcement officials), and deported 58,266 foreign nationals. Independent anti-trafficking consultant Mark Taylor said the government's confidence was "severely misplaced." Blue Dragon Children's Foundation founder Michael Brosowski was gentler, saying calls from trafficked people have fallen sharply, though they haven’t stopped. The government's statement did admit that criminal networks have moved into guesthouses, condominiums, rental houses, vehicles and coffee shops, and that 855 more suspects remain at large.

Read more: Straits Times (enforcement claims), Phnom Penh Post (cybersecurity law), Cambodianess (rescues), Tdtnews (earlier crackdown)

MSC Sees Growth Sinking to 2.7% in 2026

Mekong Strategic Capital expects 2026 growth to come in at 2.7%, the weakest print outside the pandemic in 17 years and well below the government's 4.1% expectation. The IMF, World Bank, ADB and AMRO are all higher, at about 3% to 4.2%. The gap comes almost entirely from services, which MSC thinks will shrink as accommodation and food take the pain from a previously expected quarter-plus drop in international arrival numbers. Finance and real estate are also softening with rising loan losses and property oversupply. Industry tells a different story, finding growth of a little more than 7%, almost up to Vietnam’s level, as garments and other manufacturing keep moving. MSC expects growth to recover to 6% in 2027 if (big IF) tourism, finance and real estate come back.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

Casino Shutdowns Cut Gaming Revenue by a Third

Gaming duties collected by the Finance Ministry were down to $29 million in the first half of 2026, reduced from $39 million a year earlier, after nearly 100 casino licenses were cancelled after last year's sweep against scam-connected operators. NagaWorld, which still has the Phnom Penh monopoly, saw its duty payments drop 18%. The ministry blamed some of the damage on the closed Thai border, which has also hurt tourism, agricultural exports and remittances.

Read more: CamboJA News

Zero Tax on Top of 10% US Rate Sought

Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol is pushing Washington for Most-Favored-Nation status with zero added duty, trying to build on the momentum of a successful 10% Section 301 rate (2.5% less than what Vietnam and Thailand pay). The stakes are more than $7 billion in exports sent to the US (still Cambodia’s biggest market) in the first half of 2026. A separate USTR investigation into structural excess manufacturing capacity, focused on 16 economies including China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, is expected to be finished soon and could result in further duties. US Representatives Jimmy Panetta, Jim Baird, Julie Johnson and Kristen McDonald Rivet recently met with Hun Manet at the Peace Palace, where the prime minister talked textiles, ag/ agro-processing.

Read more: Khmer Times (tariff push), Khmer Times (US delegation)

Ex-FM Chief Had 375 Accounts at 7 Banks

The Anti-Corruption Unit says Tho Samnang, the former director-general reassigned to an adviser post after an April royal decree, had 375 bank accounts in seven banks. That’s connected to the nearly $3 million traced to him and two colleagues from the sale of more than 12,000 official C and CEX visa forms to online scam operators. The ACU wants the courts to freeze/ seize the assets for the state and says it is still looking for any more money that may still be hidden.

Read more: Khmer Times

Microfinance Borrowers Refuse IFC Offer

Sixteen indigenous microfinance borrowers, including the widow of a complainant who died during the process, rejected the IFC's informal settlement offer, saying they feared for their safety and didn’t trust the mechanism. The refusal comes after the World Bank board rejected its watchdog's 188-page report, which found that the IFC broke its own rules and caused system-wide harm in the microfinance sector, including lost livelihoods, food insecurity, family breakups and intimidation. Yikes. Licadho and Equitable Cambodia, which filed the original complaint in 2022 on behalf of the borrowers, have stepped back, giving the IFC contact details for two other complainants. The World Bank says the IFC is considering its options for what to do next even as it hopes the sixteen will reconsider.

Read more: CamboJA News

Thai Boycott Boosts Local SME Demand

Demand for locally made goods has gone up by about a third in the past year as shoppers turn away from Thai brands, according to the Federation of Associations for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia. SMEs, formal and informal combined, generated almost three-fifths of GDP in 2025, but the Ministry of Industry's most recent numbers put almost all small businesses outside the formal system. A digital registration platform launched in late 2024 was intended to close that gap, but hasn’t yet been able to do so. The PM has told officials to expand the CamDX data-sharing platform to try and reduce the paperwork and bring more businesses into the fold.

Read more: CamboJA News

PM Rules Out Vietnam-Style Ministry Mergers

Hun Manet told the country's civil servants that the nation’s ministries are staying put. He put aside comparisons to Vietnam's ministerial mergers and provincial consolidations. He said that his approach would be to work towards "strengthening, not expanding." He conceded that consolidation might be able to cut overlap and reduce administrative costs, but argued that merging agencies risks creating institutions that are hard to manage without trimming payrolls or spending. He apparently hoped nobody else would notice the irony of his position.

Read more: CamboJA News

NGOs Get 80% of Budget from Foreign Donors

More than nine in ten social-delivery groups rely on foreign donors who, on average, cover about four-fifths of their budgets. That’s double the Asian norm, according to the Center for Asian Philanthropy and Society's 2026 Doing Good Index. Most surveyed groups said domestic funding was insufficient as US aid cuts and a global pullback squeeze the sector.

Read more: CamboJA News

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

Subscribe now

Share The Mekong Memo

If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.

Subscribe now

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Sanctioned Tycoon Tops the Senate's Donor Wall

King Norodom Sihamoni cut the ribbon on the Senate's new "Solidarity Palace" on August 21, his first public appearance outside the Royal Palace since prostate cancer surgery in Beijing. Officials celebrated the four-story Khmer-style building as a symbol of national unity, then perhaps engineered a faux pas. At the top of the 11-name plaque is Ly Yong Phat, the tycoon the US Treasury sanctioned in 2024 because of alleged human rights abuses tied to workers trafficked into scam compounds run by his company. The plaque also lists Hun To, Prime Minister Hun Manet's cousin, who held an almost one-third stake in Huione Pay, the payments platform Washington claimed was laundering money for cyber-scam networks before Cambodia's central bank revoked its license. Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who chaired the construction committee, said the building was "designed, built and funded by Cambodians." The project cost around $10 million, according to Khmer Times. Ly attended the ceremony and fervently denies any link to cybercrime or money laundering.

Read more: Khaosod English (Huione Pay), Khmer Times ($10 million cost), Malay Mail (ceremony), Khmer Times (construction)

UNDP Says Border War Displaced 644,589

The UN Development Program's socioeconomic assessment confirms that December's fighting pushed 644,589 people from their homes at its peak. Some 347,346 crowded into more than 200 temporary sites while another 297,243 sheltered with host families, 883 schools shut, and more than 50 health facilities suspended service along the border. The economic shock was a bigger deal than the displacement, as roughly 900,000 migrant workers returned from Thailand by late September and that slashed remittance flows into rural households that had previously been dependent on them.

Read more: The Star (Chinese denial), UNDP (assessment), Khmer Times (border works)

FM Cuts 2026 Growth Forecast to 4.1%

The Ministry of Economy and Finance cut its 2026 growth forecast to 4.1% (that’s down from 5% in January and 4.2% in May). The ministry blamed Middle East-driven fuel prices, the border spat with Thailand, and lingering scam-center fallout, which together are dragging down tourism and agriculture in addition to slowing the garment sector. Wholesale-retail, finance, and construction-real estate are tracking as expected, and non-garment manufacturing exports are running ahead of forecast, which could lift overall performance through year-end.

Read more: The Star

Moody's Puts Bad-Loan Ratio at 9.6%

The non-performing loan ratio was 9.6% in June, Moody's told the 5th Cambodia Banking Conference in Phnom Penh, up from 8.3% at the end of 2025 and quadruple the 2.4% seen in 2021. The ~10% figure puts Cambodia well above regional peers, as Thailand is at 3.7%, Vietnam at 1.9%, and Malaysia at 1.2%. Real estate makes up about 22% of lending at deposit-taking institutions, the highest concentration in the agency's regional comparison, and restructured loans add another 9% of total credit that isn’t in the headline NPL figure. Private-sector debt is near 120% of GDP. Two days after Moody’s report, the Association of Banks in Cambodia announced three "strategic priorities" built around resilience, financial integrity and what it calls productive finance. No numbers, targets or deadlines were shared with any of them. ABC Chairman Rath Sophoan said the sector remains "resilient" despite "property-market adjustment, asset-quality pressures and complex cyber risks."

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review (Moody's warning), Khmer Times (bank response)

NagaWorld VIP Revenue Halves

Casino gaming tax collections fell almost 26% year-on-year to $28 million in the first half, down from roughly $38 million in the year earlier, and NagaWorld's Referral VIP revenue was cut in more-than-half to $9.17 million as high-roller traffic dried up. Mass market tables were able to hold up, with their share of the take up almost a quarter to $91.3 million, and Premium VIP slipped about 16% to $35.9 million. The Ministry of Economy and Finance is still expecting full-year collections to beat the target by almost 18%, so nobody at the Treasury is sweating just yet.

Read more: Inside Asian Gaming

Sinaloa's Crypto Laundromat Found in Kandal

Cambodian anti-drug police and the DEA raided four sites in Phnom Penh and Kandal province, taking about $7 million in cryptocurrency allegedly laundered for Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, in addition to more than 200 kilograms of drugs and more than a metric ton of precursor chemicals. DEA offices in Phnom Penh and New Jersey ran the joint investigation, which the US Embassy described as a takedown of a local network moving money for the cartel. A July UN report flagged the region as a financial and logistics hub for Latin American crime groups. Several foreign operatives were arrested, but no charges have been announced as of yet.

Read more: AP (cartel network), Khmer Times (intelligence sharing), CryptoRank (crypto scrutiny)

Ex-Director Confesses to Visa Sticker Theft

Tho Samnang, until April the director general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry's General Directorate of Legal, Consular and Border Affairs, has confessed to stealing more than 6,000 type-C visa stickers and issuing them to alleged scam operators, the Anti-Corruption Unit said. He told investigators he destroyed another 4,000, which the ACU is still searching for. Three Foreign Ministry officials have now been sent to court over the theft, misuse, and disappearance of at least 10,000 official forms, some of which were apparently used by foreigners to run cyber fraud operations. Foreign Ministry Secretary of State Eat Sophea tried to keep the blast radius small, saying Samnang's case was one of "an individual's misconduct" and confirming that she did not yet know how many officials were involved.

Read more: CamboJA News (visa theft), Cambodia Daily (enforcement tally), AFP (casino licenses), Khmer Times (official response)

Non-Crime and Punishment

Kem Monovithya's royal decree came with a ministerial post, making her Hun Manet's special envoy for investment promotion and the Thai border dispute. A Phnom Penh court gave defrocked monk Chea Vuthy 18 months for incitement because of social media comments about displaced people on the border, and police in Oddar Meanchey jailed Candlelight deputy commune chief Nhean Sarom after a former colleague disclosed a private phone call critical of local services. Sarom's wife says he has kidney disease and high blood pressure, and fears mistreatment in provincial prison. Licadho counts around 131 opposition politicians and activists currently jailed over their public statements, mostly on incitement charges. Kem Sokha's lawyer says Monovithya's appointment is separate from her father's case and does not make her a CPP member.

Read more: CamboJA News (appointment reaction), CamboJA News (jailed activists), CamboJA News (Sarom case), Cambodia Daily (political read), Khmer Times (opposition reaction)

699,000 Farm Households Are Carrying Debt

The Cambodia Agriculture Survey 2024 reported that 699,000 households were carrying loans out of the 1.87 million doing farm work nationwide. Apparently, about three-fifths of the borrowing went to cover farming operations, not emergencies or land disputes. At a Phnom Penh forum, cooperative representative Hy Sochan said the squeeze was due to low crop prices at the market gate, even as fertilizer and seed are currently quite costly. GRAIN's Afsar Jafri thinks the pressure is at least partly due to a shift toward industrial agriculture that leaves smallholders (who still grow most of the country's food) dependent on commercial seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides.

Read more: Khmer Times

Tower Opens With Planet Hollywood, Ramsay Burger

JS Group opened the 170-meter JS Tower in BKK1, the building announced as Chief Tower at its 2023 topping-out before a rebrand and a rethink of what it is for. Grade-A offices now share the address with Southeast Asia's first Planet Hollywood Hotel (including 148 themed rooms), Gordon Ramsay Burger, the chef's first restaurant in the region, and a 360-degree observatory deck. The pivot away from just office space is par for the course in the current market. Phnom Penh had roughly 1.2 million square meters of office stock in the first half of 2026, occupancy was near 64%, and Grade-A rents are about $24 per square meter per month.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

WeChat Pay Meets KHQR at the Register

Chinese tourists can now pay at local shops by scanning ACLEDA's KHQR codes with WeChat Pay, without any need for cash. Phase 1 of the link connects into ACLEDA's network of 5.97 million Super App users and more than 860,000 merchant partners, for shopping, dining, hotels, transport, and entertainment. The connection runs one direction for now, as KHQR users still cannot scan into WeChat's system in mainland China.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

Subscribe now

Share The Mekong Memo

If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.

Subscribe now

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Pentagon, Phnom Penh Restart Joint Military Drills

Joint military exercises with the United States will start again in 2027 after a decade-long freeze that began when Phnom Penh scrapped the Angkor Sentinel drills in early 2017, not long after holding its first Golden Dragon exercises with China. Prime Minister Hun Manet announced the resumption after meeting US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby in Phnom Penh. Colby also thanked Defence Minister Tea Seiha for the January port call by the USS Cincinnati, an Independence-class littoral combat ship that became the first US Navy vessel to dock at Ream Naval Base since its Chinese-funded renovation, and welcomed further US naval visits to the facility. Washington has pressed Phnom Penh for years over possible Chinese military use of Ream; Cambodian officials say the base is open to any friendly navy. Cambodia and China held their largest-ever joint exercises in 2025, featuring artillery, warships and robot battle dogs.

Read more: Phnom Penh Post (Colby regional tour), Straits Times (territorial integrity), Khmer Times (Peace Accords support)

The Draft Gets a Rulebook

A 41-article sub-decree signed Thursday details how the government will run the conscription drive ordered a year ago, setting two years of service for men aged 18 to 25. Conscripts get 400,000 riel a month (that’s about $100), plus food, housing and family benefits comparable to professional soldiers, in addition to a guarantee that their job or school seat will be waiting when they return. The guarantee has a loophole though, since employers can decline to take workers back if they pay severance under the Labor Law instead, a provision labor rights group Central's Moeun Tola warns invites discrimination against returning conscripts. Specialists in engineering, IT, healthcare and mine clearance can apply for exemption by signing public-interest work agreements with the armed forces for a term equivalent to their service.

Read more: CamboJA News

Hun Manet Sells the North as US Counts Scammers

Prime Minister Hun Manet stood in Stung Treng on Wednesday touting $2.7 billion in proposed investment in four northern provinces, tax breaks, cheap loans and 80,000 promised jobs, telling skeptics "our country has a war, our country has scams" but insisting investment "continues to be attractive." The pitch came days after immigration chief Sok Veasna announced more than 17,700 foreign scam suspects had been deported between January 1 and August 9, part of more than 50,000 total expulsions this year. Around the same time, US Chargé d'Affaires Aleks Zittle sat down with Justice Minister Koeut Rith to press for prosecutions of scam masterminds, not only the low-level suspects filling deportation flights. The scam industry reportedly swindles more than $12.5 billion a year worldwide. Cambodia says it has arrested about 800 ringleaders and shut more than 250 scam centers since July 2025.

Read more: The Star (analyst quotes), CamboJA News (70 project proposals), CamboJA News (sanctioned senators)

Hun Manet Courts Kem Sokha's Daughter

Prime Minister Hun Manet posted a photo of himself with Kem Monovithya, Kem Sokha's daughter and former CNRP deputy director-general of public affairs, calling it part of a "generational partnership." Two days later Senate President Hun Sen hosted Sokha, his wife and Monovithya for a three-hour sit-down, praising Monovithya as, in his words, "valuable human capital." The gestures come after Sokha's May royal pardon, which erased his 27-year treason sentence and later lifted his five-year overseas travel ban, though political restrictions from his conviction remain. Public meetings between senior ruling-party figures and prominent opposition families have been rare since the CNRP's 2017 dissolution. Commune elections are a year out, national elections two. No policy commitments, cabinet posts, or party registration changes have followed either meeting.

Read more: Cambodianess

Bangkok Hands Out Land in Disputed Border Zone

Thai authorities parceled out land to Thai citizens on August 13 in Chouk Chey village, the patch of Banteay Meanchey between Boundary Pillars 45 and 47 that Cambodian families were evicted from during last year's fighting. Phnom Penh's Foreign Ministry protested two days later, as it said the handouts were an attempt to legitimize occupation before the Joint Boundary Commission finishes its demarcation. No Thai government response has been reported so far.

Read more: The Star, Khmer Times, CamboJA News (psychological distress)

Garment Bosses Told to Buy Robots

Some 845 new factories opened in the first half of 2026, adding more than 90,000 jobs and moving the Labour Ministry's employment forecast up to 11 million workers by year's end. Garment exports were $11.4 billion last year, part of a $15.5 billion apparel, footwear and travel-goods total that grew almost 16 percent. But at last week's textile fair in Phnom Penh, Industry Minister Hem Vanndy told an industry that employs around 700,000 workers (mostly women), that its edge is going to depend on AI, robotics and automated cutting lines. The 2026 minimum wage for garment workers is $208 a month.

Read more: The Star (expo exhibitors), Fibre2Fashion (wage history), Khmer Times (skill gaps)

Timor Sea Veteran to Chair Gulf Maritime Panel

Australian diplomat Katrina Cooper, the DFAT deputy secretary for Southeast Asia who served as Canberra's co-agent in the Timor Sea conciliation that produced the 2018 Australia-Timor-Leste maritime boundary treaty, will chair the five-member UNCLOS commission arbitrating the Cambodia-Thailand dispute over the Gulf of Thailand's Overlapping Claims Area. Cambodia picked Peter Taksøe-Jensen of Denmark and Jean-Marc Thouvenin of France; Thailand picked Rüdiger Wolfrum of Germany and Albert Hoffmann of South Africa; the four then settled on Cooper, who doubles as Australia's special envoy for the multi-billion-dollar Greater Sunrise gas project. No date has been set for substantive hearings on the oil and gas reserves in the zone. The process began June 2 after Thailand ended a 25-year memorandum governing the zone, and Bangkok filed its formal response on June 19. Phnom Penh says it expects the commission's first procedural meeting within weeks.

Read more: Cambodianess, Khmer Times (12-month report deadline)

Kuehne+Nagel Triples Down on Phnom Penh

Kuehne+Nagel is building a 20,000-square-metre Container Freight Station in Phnom Penh, more than tripling its Cambodian handling capacity when it opens in June 2027. The site is near Phnom Penh International Airport and the road connects to Thailand and Vietnam, with Sihanoukville Autonomous Port handling roughly 1.3 million TEUs last year and Phnom Penh's port about 600,000. The warehouse is designed for five-tonne-per-square-metre floor loads and targets ISO 9001, 45001 and 14001 certification, with solar panels, battery forklifts and rainwater capture built in. David Roussiere, the firm's managing director for Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, said the facility will serve consumer goods customers moving cargo in the region.

Read more: Vietnam Investment Review

Ritz-Carlton Books Phnom Penh for 2032

Marriott and Kith Meng's Royal Group have agreed to build the country's first Ritz-Carlton on Norodom Boulevard in Daun Penh, with 152 rooms, 119 branded residences, and a Grade A office tower in the mixed-use complex. No financing details were disclosed. Opening is expected for 2032, well past the current tourism slump that has Siem Reap discounting rooms to fill them. Kith Meng says it is "a symbol of prosperity for the entire country," pitching the residences as "the pinnacle of ultra-luxury living."

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

Gov’t Sets $30 Million Startup Target for 2030

The National Strategy on Startup Development 2026-2030, launched Tuesday at Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel by Deputy PM Aun Pornmoniroth, targets $30 million in total startup investment, 300 startups in incubation programs, and 100 startups receiving funding by 2030. It also wants to lift the country's Startup System Performance Index classification from "Growing" to "Expanding." Individual ministries will be required to set their own KPIs aligned with the four national targets.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

Bou Meng, Who Painted Pol Pot to Survive, Dead at 85

Bou Meng, one of only seven known survivors of the Khmer Rouge's S-21 torture center, died Friday at 85 of age-related illness. His ability to paint Pol Pot's portrait was what kept him alive at the prison, where he was held for almost two years starting in 1977 and where an estimated 16,000 people were killed. He testified in 2009 against commandant Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, and recalled being ordered to paint Ho Chi Minh's head on the body of a dog. Duch was convicted in 2010, sentenced to life, and died in prison in 2020 at 77.

Read more: AP News

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

Subscribe now

Share The Mekong Memo

If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.

Subscribe now

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Apple Maps Catches Thailand Razing 627 Homes

Updated Apple Maps pics show at least 627 homes and other structures bulldozed in Chok Chey, Boeung Trarkuon and Prey Chan since the December 27 ceasefire, according to Licadho. The report is the first independent count supporting Phnom Penh's claim that Thai forces are erasing villages, not only walling them off with shipping containers, razor wire and sandbags. UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews has continued to stand by his report that more than 20,000 civilians still are unable to get back to their homes.

Read more: Khmer Times (Andrews defense), UCA News (home count), Asian News Network (government response), CamboJA News (voter registration), Cambodia Daily (ASEAN observers)

Siem Reap Arrivals Halve, Ministry Gives Discounts

International arrivals to Siem Reap were down about 48% in the first half of 2026 (versus the same period in the previous year). The National Bank blamed the Thai border conflict, scam-center reputational damage and generally weaker global demand for travel, and the Tourism Ministry's response is a "Mega Sale" offering 10 to 50 percent off hotels and tourism services through Cambodia Wonder. Industry veterans are not yet popping any champagne. Former Cambodia Tourism Federation vice president Peter Brongers says Siem Reap is already competitively priced and that bigger discounts risk pulling the destination toward high-volume tourism instead of the higher-value visitors officials claim to crave. Operators would prefer to see temporary landing and parking fee waivers, Angkor Pass discounts and more marketing.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review (Angkor Pass sales), Cambodia Investment Review (marketing push)

Two Years for a Livestream on Thirsty Grunts

Oddar Meanchey Provincial Court sentenced Luot Sophal to two years in prison for "demoralizing the armed forces" and "incitement to commit a felony." The Srotop Yuvakvey News reporter had livestreamed about water shortages affecting frontline troops during the 2025 border conflict with Thailand, which was pretty much the same story that Voice of Democracy and Radio Free Asia had already run from exile. RSF is demanding his release and says the case is nothing more than retaliation for reporting "matters of public interest." A second journalist, Meas Sara, was held for a day last August on the same incitement charge after interviewing border residents who said Thai military operations had cut them off from their homes. His case is still pending.

Read more: RSF (press freedom case), Khmer Times (ministry response)

Pentagon Chief Arrives as Military Ties Revive

Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's policy chief, is arriving in Phnom Penh with Assistant Secretary John Noh on a four-country tour that will also see Manila, Jakarta and Bangkok. The visit follows Adm. Steve Koehler's August 6 and 7 stop, which Cambodia and the US used as an opportunity to agree to restart the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training exercise in 2027. It also comes after the Senate confirmed Christopher Anderson as ambassador, filling a post that’s been empty since Patrick Murphy left in May 2024. Angkor Sentinel, another shelved exercise, is expected to resume in early 2027. No agenda for the Colby-Noh meetings has been shared publicly.

Read more: Phnom Penh Post (new ambassador), Cambodianess (Colby visit), Cambodianess (CARAT restart), Khmer Times (border gaps), Khmer Times (SEACAT exercise)

NBC Pulls Three Sanctioned Banks' Licenses

The National Bank revoked the licenses of CCU Commercial Bank, Heng Feng Bank and HH Bank, the third fit of closures this year after the shuttering of Prince Bank and Panda Commercial Bank. All three were already on the US Treasury's OFAC sanctions list because of (alleged) links to cyber-fraud and trafficking. REACHS & Partners will liquidate CCU; Baker Tilly gets Heng Feng and HH. For scale, the trio made up only about half a percent of the banking system which holds $99.8 billion in assets as of mid-2026.

Read more: The Star

Poipet Raids Net 54 Foreigners in 13 Sites

Banteay Meanchey police raided 13 locations in Poipet under instructions from provincial governor Om Ratay, and captured 54 foreign nationals. Sources did not break down the nationalities or the charges, and there is no word yet on which facilities the suspects worked in. In Phnom Penh, six Chinese nationals were arrested in a separate raid on a building along Sisowath Quay that featured the police rescuing a kidnapping victim.

Read more: Khmer Times (Poipet raids), Khmer Times (kidnapping rescue)

Chinese are Top Foreign Suspects in Trafficking

The counter-trafficking committee reported 112 cases and the rescue of 581 victims in the first half of the year, which is 13 more cases than they notched in the same period last year. Of 34 foreign suspects sent to provincial courts, 29 were Chinese nationals, in addition to three Vietnamese, one Bangladeshi and one Japanese. Courts have delivered verdicts in 165 cases so far in ‘26, sending 232 people to prison and giving 14 suspended terms. Reportedly, men and boys made up most of human trafficking victims, even as women and girls were the predominant victims of sexual exploitation cases in every age group.

Read more: Cambodianess

Airport Road Triples Its Asking Price

Land along Phnom Penh's 60-Metre Boulevard now fetches $1,200 to $1,500 per square meter, up from about $500 before the new Techo International Airport turned the capital's southern edge into a construction zone. The showrooms of more than 20 international vehicle brands have opened or are lining up to do so along the corridor. Even as prices have moved up handily, they’re still a discount compared to Boeung Keng Kang, where land trades at up to about $5,000 a square meter.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

Subscribe now

Share The Mekong Memo

If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.

Subscribe now

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

EU Sanctions Chen Zhi After DC and London

The EU Council sanctioned Prince Holding Group and chairman Chen Zhi, freezing assets and putting a travel ban into effect. The sanctions hit the same targets that Washington and London designated in October. Chen is currently in Chinese custody facing an intentional injury charge that could bring the death penalty, but Brussels seemed little comforted and said his compounds "continue to operate" anyway. The listing also caught Sihanoukville-based Jin Bei Group and its chairman Zhu Zhongbiao, who ran the Jin Bei 4 complex with Prince. Prince Holding Group has denied the allegations and said it will defend itself in all relevant jurisdictions.

Svay Rieng police raided three rental houses in Bavet before the EU announcement, arrested 34 Vietnamese and four Bangladeshi nationals, and temporarily closed the properties. OpenAI also shared that a ChatGPT account network it traced to Poipet had been used to draft romance-scam scripts, translate messages to targets, and document staff "recruitment, immigration status, working conditions, and employee discipline."

Read more: CamboJA News (EU case), Khmer Times (Bavet raid), OpenAI (ChatGPT misuse)

Thousands Displaced, No Bigwigs Charged

Tom Andrews finished 12 days in Cambodia with a bleak scorecard. More than 20,000 of the 650,000 people displaced by last year's border fighting with Thailand are still unable to go home, with some finding their villages behind Thai barbed wire and shipping containers. On scam enforcement, the numbers look a little better, with more than 600 locations closed, 29 casino licenses revoked or suspended, and about 3,000 operators facing criminal proceedings. But Andrews said he raised prosecuting the senior officials and powerful figures he says are credibly connected to the scam industry, and got no commitment. He met Hun Manet, Hun Sen, and opposition figures without restriction, and took a tour of the border camps with Kem Sokha, who was recently pardoned by the King after a five-year foreign-travel ban. His findings will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in October.

Read more: AP News (Andrews visit), Straits Times (border economy), Cambodianess (women in politics), Anadolu (Trump pact), Ratopati

Thailand Finishes Border Fence; Trade Down 40%

Thailand has finished work on a 1.3-kilometer stretch of reinforced border fence. Two-way trade fell almost 40 percent in the first five months of 2026, to $1.15 billion. The human cost is showing up in village ledgers. One returnee registered with his village chief for government job placement, was told ministry officials would call, and never heard back, leaving him to service microloan debts with no wage coming in. Cambodian officials told the ASEAN Observer Team, led by Commodore Glenn Dizon, that demarcation work is still stalled because Thai troops continue to hold contested ground, while Phnom Penh says it remains committed to negotiating under international law. Dizon's team has yet to set a timeline for troop withdrawal or for restarting survey work.

Read more: SCMP (microloan debt trap), Khmer Times (Pen Bona)

SchneiTec Clears the Wrong Patch of Forest

SchneiTec, lead developer on the country's first wind farm, cut about half a hectare of tree canopy and a 142-meter access road along the border of the Phnom Prich and Keo Seima wildlife sanctuaries before provincial officials stopped their work and called the company in to explain. Mondulkiri environment director Has Vibol said it might have been "a technical error," with the approved site nearby. CamboJA reporters who visited found the road network longer and the cleared area larger than officials described. SchneiTec's slice of the $185 million, 900-megawatt project will cover almost 40 hectares and 49 turbines, all but one planned inside Keo Seima, on land Bunong communities say they were never really consulted about. SchneiTec has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Read more: CamboJA News

Oknha's Daughter in Fatal Hit-and-Run

Sam Meychou, 27, daughter of Oknha Tong Hok Seng, was taken into custody over the hit-and-run death of Kuoch Limhan, a 35-year-old Ministry of Public Works and Transport official killed while riding home. Police say her vehicle crossed the centerline while overtaking on Street 1003 in Sen Sok district around 11:30pm, colliding head-on with Limhan's Honda Scoopy. Video showed two young women leaving the scene by tuk tuk as the body lay in the rain. DAP News initially reported that she was detained at Techo International Airport trying to board a flight to Singapore, but the Phnom Penh police commissioner later said her father cooperated with investigators in locating her and handing her over. Both vehicles are impounded. This will be another interesting case to watch to see how the country’s justice system deals with children of the elite.

Read more: The Star

High Power Costs Hold Back Manufacturing

AMRO's latest read on the country's industrial base is that electricity tariffs are about double Vietnam's, and the grid still can’t keep up. Outages hit more than four in ten businesses (overall) during CY2023, including more than half of manufacturers, and more than 80% of garment factories, a sector the country is heavily reliant on. Affected companies are about 11 percent less productive than peers who are able to get stable power. The report connects this disconnect (Ed: sorry!) directly to why the economy is unable to move beyond past assembly work.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

Gov’t Weighs Visa Rethink as Thai Arrivals Crater

Thai arrivals dropped 96 percent in the first half of 2026, the biggest decline from ten major markets that all went backward. Overall arrivals fell by almost half to 1.75 million. PATA Cambodia's Thourn Sinan says the government is getting ready to revise visa conditions to try and stem the tide. Land and waterway entries fell about two-thirds; ticket revenue at Angkor Archaeological Park was down almost 30 percent to $18.5 million.

Read more: Travelmole

Central Bank Bets Second Half on Garments, FDI

Governor Chea Serey told the National Bank of Cambodia's mid-year review that he expects that growth will rise from 3.5 percent in H1 2026 to 4.3 percent in H2, putting the full year at 3.9 percent before finding a 5 percent footing in 2027. She is counting on garments, non-garment manufacturing, farm exports, and foreign capital to do the lifting. Tourism has weakened (see previous story), and construction and real estate remain moribund. The Council for the Development of Cambodia approved 276 projects worth $4.7 billion in H1, with a Korean manufacturing delegation, early France talks on health and green energy megaprojects, and KNN Automotive's $28 million Kandal assembly plant among the recent additions. Details on how much represents committed cash versus paperwork have not been released.

Read more: VietnamPlus (growth forecast), Construction & Property News (investment approvals)

Hun Manet Chases 4 Million Missing Land Titles

Almost 14 million land plots have been registered but only 10 million have titles, and Hun Manet wants the gap closed by the end of next year. The fix will come in the form of a centralized database that will connect provincial land offices to the General Department of Taxation, replacing what he called a system that has no unified document flow at the local level. Owners whose titles are with banks and microfinance institutions as loan collateral will be able to retrieve or swap paperwork through a new arrangement with the National Bank of Cambodia, without voiding the loan guarantee. A full penalty waiver on overdue stamp duty is running through 2027 for cases with court orders more that are more than three months old, and land transferred repeatedly at the local level between 2017 and July 2026 will be taxed once, on the final owner, rather than at every step along the way.

Read more: CamboJA News

Reserves Slip to $25.3 Billion/ Eight Months

Foreign reserves were down about 8 percent in the first half of 2026 to $25.3 billion, down from $27.5 billion at end-2025, on lower bank deposits, mandatory reserves, and reduced gold holdings. That amount is still enough to pay for eight months of imports, well above the three-month benchmark economists think is appropriate for developing economies. The National Bank says the drop is the result of reserve composition, not because of balance-of-payments pressure. A little more than 6 percent of reserves is now in green and ESG-related bonds, a new disclosure that’s meant to lure climate-linked financing.

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

ADB Puts Up $250 Million for RISE

The ADB approved a $250 million loan for the RISE program, which is aimed at more than a million IDPoor households, including at least 350,000 that are headed by women, through income support, debt relief, and help with agricultural inputs. The AIIB may add up to $250 million and JICA up to $188 million, which would push combined financing to $688 million. Neither co-financing commitment is confirmed.

Read more: Fibre2Fashion

Submarine Cable Connects Sihanoukville to HK

A 3,000 km submarine cable connecting Sihanoukville to Hong Kong has been wired up, running through the Gulf of Thailand, past southern Vietnam, and across the South China Sea to a landing station in Tseung Kwan O. China Unicom, the state-owned telecom that funded the SHV-HK project, says it is part of the Belt and Road’s digital cooperation work. Pricing and rollout dates for local carriers have not been made public yet, but the cable promises faster overseas connections for all of Cambodia.

Read more: Khmer Times

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

Subscribe now

Share The Mekong Memo

If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.

Subscribe now

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Phnom Penh Gets 10% US Tariff, Beating Rivals

Cambodia got a 10% Section 301 tariff in the USTR's final ruling, a notable two and a half points lower than the rate that was given to Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines. The June proposal had put Cambodia in the higher tier, but three ministries worked to improve enforcement against forced-labor imports before the comment deadline, and the final list moved Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia down to 10%. Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol seemed delighted. He said he expects the pending Excess Capacity component to come in at 9% or less, which would keep the combined rate around 19% and within the trade agreement Phnom Penh signed with Washington last year.

Read more: The Star (tariff ruling), Kiripost (enforcement push), Cambodianess (Chanthol comments), Khmer Times (trade deal), Khmer Times (regional comparison)

Hun Manet and Hun Sen Go Shopping for Dollars

Prime Minister Hun Manet and Senate President Hun Sen spent the week hosting peeps with checkbooks - first a South Korean Chamber of Commerce delegation, then a US-ASEAN Business Council group of more than a dozen American companies led by Ambassador Brian McFeeters. The pitch is being made as exports to Thailand dropped to $357 million in the first half from $448 million a year earlier, and imports were reduced from $1.7 billion to about $1 billion as the border closure keeps grinding. Trade with South Korea, by contrast, was about $600 million last year, up almost 37 percent. Those numbers give Phnom Penh a talking point as it looks past its shrunken neighbor for capital for healthcare, energy, and the digital economy.

Read more: Cambodia Daily (investment targets), US Embassy (delegation companies), Khmer Times (mine contamination), CamboJA (displacement toll)

Tourist Arrivals Fall Almost 48% in First Half

International arrivals fell almost 48 percent to 1.75 million in the first half, according to the Ministry of Tourism. PATA Cambodia chapter chairman Thourn Sinan claimed the weak numbers were thanks to a wobbly global economy and neighbors outspending Phnom Penh on flights, visa exemptions, and packages. Researcher Chedy Tech thinks it’s down to the conflict in the Middle East and global inflation, which he says is pinching the wallets of those who might otherwise visit. The months-long Thai border closure, once a major overland funnel into Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, was unmentioned by both experts.

Read more: Khmer Times

FBI's Patel Comes to Collect on the Scam Tally

Kash Patel met with Hun Manet at the Peace Palace after a stop in Bangkok to hold court at a summit with nearly 20 countries on scam centers, and Phnom Penh released its first full-year scorecard. Authorities say 2,773 suspects were sent to court in 268 cases, more than 600 locations were raided, and 21,102 foreigners were deported. Nineteen casino licenses were withdrawn and 30 more were suspended after a review of 195. Hun Manet told Bloomberg that he has removed a three-star general, a two-star general, and a one-star general because of scam links, as well as provincial governors and police commissioners. Phnom Penh will play host to an international conference in September, an FBI delegation is confirmed. The UN says that regional losses last year were up to $114 billion, about triple its estimate from two years earlier.

Read more: The Star (detention demographics), The Star (UNODC loss range), Khmer Times (center closures), CamboJA (bitcoin seizure)

LNG Exporters Circle First Gas Plant

Suppliers from the US, Canada, Australia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia are getting in line ahead of the tender to fuel the 900MW Botum Sakor plant, according to Mines and Energy Minister Keo Rottanak. Price and supply stability will decide the winner. The first 450MW phase is expected online by the end of this year, and the second phase should roll out next year. The Japan-Korea LNG marker has topped $21 per million BTU as renewed Persian Gulf fighting and Qatar's force majeure extension at Ras Laffan tighten supply. Rottanak says renewables power almost two-thirds of the grid, and LNG picks up slack as part of the rest while the government works toward 70 percent “clean power” by 2030. Fuel tax and duty cuts that have been introduced to protect domestic users from price shocks are costing the treasury up to $60 million a month.

Read more: Cambodianess (construction timing), Energy Connects (fuel tax cuts), Oilprice (energy mix)

Chinese Megaprojects Clear Local Law, Flunks Global Standards

A study presented at an NGO Forum on Cambodia workshop found that the Lower Sesan 2 dam, Dara Sakor SEZ, and Funan Techo Canal all cleared the minimum local legal bar but fell short of IFC, UN, and OECD standards. Chinese money made up as much as 54 percent of investment capital last year. Researcher Sam Chanthy reported on persistent woes including limited public consultation, weak grievance (resolution) systems, and inadequate livelihood restoration for displaced residents. Deforestation and altered river hydrology were also raised as chronic problems, not one-off mistakes.

Read more: CamboJA

Soap Complaint Triggers Registration Pilot

A soap maker's registration ordeal has pushed Hun Manet to order a six-day licensing pilot for the industry. The pilot is part of an SME overhaul and comes as consumers continue to boycott Thai products. The Cambodia Chamber of Commerce says paperwork was never the real problem. Vice president Lim Heng wants better enforcement of import duties on finished goods and tax relief to steady raw-material supply for local manufacturers. Deputy PM and Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth have been tasked with chairing an emergency task force.

Read more: Cambodianess

Kem Sokha's Travel Ban Lifted

A royal decree lifted Kem Sokha's five-year overseas travel ban three months after the Phnom Penh Appeal Court handed it down. The former opposition leader's first trip out of the capital will not be to a rally, instead he is heading to Banteay Meanchey to pass out 300 food packages for displaced families, then on to Oddar Meanchey to meet frontline troops on the Thai border. His lifetime ban on political activity, related to the Supreme Court's dissolution of his Cambodia National Rescue Party, will remain in place. A US trip to visit his daughters and get medical treatment is planned next.

Read more: The Star (royal decree), Khmer Times (pardon)

EU Building Codes Adopted

Cambodia has adopted 10 Eurocodes (the EU's structural design standards) after sustained lobbying by EuroCham's Real Estate and Construction Committee. Vice-chair Ross Wheble, who is the head of Knight Frank Cambodia, said the recognized code should lift construction quality, planning transparency, and foreign investor confidence. Wheble said the adoption is "the single biggest upgrade to the regulatory framework in a decade."

Read more: Cambodia Investment Review

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

Subscribe now

Share The Mekong Memo

If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.

Subscribe now

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Hun Manet Shops China for an AI Economy

Hun Manet spent three days in Beijing and Shanghai chasing an AI future to replace the garment factories and tour buses that have been carrying the economy for years. He had the opportunity to meet with Xi Jinping in Shanghai, Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, and managed to get Cambodia signed on as one of 29 founding members of the new World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, which will be based in Shanghai. During the trip, Haier Group said it would build a tablet assembly plant, and Beijing Star AI said it was looking for local partners, two moves that will add to $4.7 billion in Chinese-backed project approvals recorded in the first half 2026. China holds more than a third of Cambodia’s external debt. Minister Delegate Jean-Francois Tain was keen to reassure everyone that the "ironclad friendship" is not a military alliance and that protecting sovereignty "remains Cambodia's own duty."

Read more: Phnom Penh Post (WAICO), The Star (growth forecast), CamboJA News (investment), Xinhua (crime pledge), China Daily (mechanism)

Taiwan Pulls Visa Access After One-China Backing

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Cambodia will lose access to the Guanhong Project and Travel Authorization Certificate scheme from August 1, shuttering two paths that Phnom Penh has used since 2018 for tour-group and conditional visa-free entry. The announcement came during Hun Manet's China trip, where he told Xi Jinping that Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang and Xizang are "purely China's internal affairs" and thanked Beijing for its "selfless" support. Taiwan said Cambodia had failed to reciprocate Taiwan's goodwill, parroted Beijing on sovereignty, and appeared to back China's possible use of force toward unification. It also raised concern about Cambodia's connection to cross-border fraud. Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines, in contrast, were given a one-year extension through July 31, 2027, while India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos get to keep their access through December 31. Any reversion to the status quo, MOFA said, will depend on a change in Phnom Penh's Taiwan policy.

Read more: Taipei Times (visa review), Khmer Times (MOFA statement), Cambodianess (China trip)

Air Cambodia Orders 20 COMAC Jets

Twenty COMAC C909 regional jets are headed to Air Cambodia under a deal agreed to in Shanghai, the first bulk order for the Chinese-built aircraft from any foreign flag carrier. Deliveries should begin this year. PM Hun Manet met COMAC's Shen Bo and Air Cambodia CEO David Zhan in advance of the ceremony. The airline currently flies three ATR 72s and three A320s, and it has orders for 10 Boeing 737 MAX 8s with an options on 10 more. China supplies almost a third of Air Cambodia's seat capacity, and the carrier's ownership tilts the same way. The government owns 30%, Vietnam Airlines has 14%, and the rest is with China's Henan Airport Investment Group and Hong Kong's 7Trip International. A separate MOU will give COMAC a role in training local maintenance crews and pilots for the new fleet.

Read more: The Star (C909 specs), Khmer Times (MOU), Aviacionline (fleet), Aviation Week (ownership)

Anderson Tells Senate Scams Are Job One in Phnom Penh

Christopher Anderson, nominated in June to fill a US ambassadorship that was vacant for more than two years, told his Senate that taking down scam networks that have "stolen tens of billions of dollars from American citizens and exploited hundreds of thousands in forced criminality" will be his top priority. Anderson, who told the panel he has spent his career "back against the wall, trying not to be noticed," inherits a crackdown that has already claimed its biggest scalp, the January extradition of Chen Zhi (erstwhile adviser to Hun Sen) to China. But much of the industry seems to be surviving. Of the more than 16,000 people deported in the first half of 2026, and the 240,000 who left "voluntarily," no official count exists of how many were trafficking victims rather than criminals. The National Police did not respond to requests for comment.

Read more: The Economist (Chen Zhi), Khmer Times (Senate hearing), CamboJA News (Amnesty findings)

Courts Jail Three Over Border Coverage

The Supreme Court in June upheld 14-year treason sentences for TSP 68 TV's Pheap Pheara and Battambang Post TV's Phon Sopheap, who were convicted because of selfies with Cambodian troops after last July's border fight. One image allegedly showed landmines that Thai media later connected to claims of newly laid mines. The Oddar Meanchey Provincial Court added a third case, sentencing Lout Sophal to two years for “demoralizing the army” because of his February 7 report on frontline troops running short of water. More than 30 journalists, activists and opposition figures were arrested over border-related social media posts between July 2025 and February 2026.

Read more: CamboJA News (pardon letter), CamboJA News (Sophal sentencing)

Tourism Police Chief Probed Over $505,000 “Release Fee”

Interior Minister Sar Sokha has told a task force to investigate Lieutenant General Run Rathveasna, director of the Tourism Police Department, after a complaint said his officers arrested a 25-year-old Phnom Penh man without a warrant, held him at department HQ, and let him go only after he paid a half million dollars. Huot Sitthireach says he was picked up on July 13, 2024 on a breach-of-trust allegation, and he filed his complaint the next day naming Rathveasna. He wants the $505,000 returned in addition to $200,000 in damages. The Tourism Police have no authority to arrest or detain suspects outside their statutory duties, as that power is reserved to the penal police, and, in any event, requires a warrant. Rathveasna could not be reached for comment.

Read more: Khmer Times

Tokyo Give PP Its First Free Patrol Boats

Patrol boats and communications gear worth about $3.2 million, are on their way to the Cambodian military under Japan's Official Security Assistance program. It’s the country's first shipment under OSA, a program that Tokyo reserves for "like-minded" militaries.

Read more: Japan Times

Factory Count up a Quarter to 3,319

Cambodia counted 3,319 large-scale operating factories as of June, up a quarter compared to last year, with $27.8 billion in cumulative investment and providing about 1.3 million jobs, Industry Minister Hem Vanndy says. That works out to roughly 664 new plants at an average of about $8.4 million apiece. Vanndy said the growth shows that Cambodia is moving beyond cheap-labor manufacturing toward AI, automation and robotics. That might be true, but no breakdown was given of how many of the new factories will be running automated lines compared to garment plants doing the same piece work as before.

Read more: Khmer Times

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.

Subscribe now

Share The Mekong Memo

If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.

Subscribe now

Read more

Subscribe now

Read more

Subscribe now

Read more

Subscribe now

Read more

Subscribe now

Read more

Subscribe now

Read more

Subscribe now

Read more

Subscribe now

Read more

News from Southeast Asia directly to your inbox every weekday.

Subscribe now

Read more

News from Southeast Asia directly to your inbox every weekday.

Subscribe now

Read more

News from Southeast Asia directly to your inbox every weekday.

Subscribe now

Read more

News from Southeast Asia directly to your inbox every weekday.

Subscribe now

Read more